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There's always a lot going on at the Watford Palace Theatre, and the past few months have seen them offering new opportunities for anyone wanting to find out more about writing for the stage, plus the chance for both aspiring and established playwrights to engage with the venue.

They have been running monthly playwriting workshops for both beginners and intermediates and led by playwrights and theatre professionals. The workshops were all practically-led, not simply ‘talks’, and encouraged active participation from the writers. The workshops covered a range of topics and themes such as finding a story, characterisation and different ways to structure your play.

They have been attracting all kinds of people with varying levels of experience, from those who've never written before but who have an interest in it, to those who have written short stories and short plays, but it's all about advancing the skills they have and focusing on different areas of writing.

Important

We paid a visit to one of the events, where Head of Learning and Participation, Kirsten Hutton, explained why these workshops are an important part of the Watford Palace's work.

"One of our remits as a centre for new writing is that we really need to identify and nurture new writers and that extends to the general community" she said.

"These writing workshops aren't aimed to find the next Alan Bennett or anything like that, it's just for people to come in and pursue their own writing goals and improve what they're doing in terms of their own writing.

"We're not looking for somebody who we can then go on and commission to write something" she added, "it would be amazing if that happened but it's really just about getting people comfortable with the writing process and this is the very first stage of this new scheme that we're running.

"We're in discussion now about how we're going to move it forwards so that we can actually offer more advanced options and different kinds of workshops as well.

"We're very much working to engage the people of Watford and beyond at a much higher level, and we're really excited about offering these types of workshops and we're very excited about the prospect of offering more in the future."

Satisfied

Anna Nagle is one of the satisfied participants who revealed why she decided to come along and what she has gained from it.

"I wanted to learn about writing a play from a professional point of view as opposed to just giving it a stab" she said, "and learning from professionals is what attracted me to it.Ìý

"I've loved it so far" she added.

"I think listening to the passion of the teachers has been really inspiring and I've actually written a play since I started, so they got me moving so to speak!

"I think it gives you confidence. Learning how to do it and how to structure it has given me more confidence to give it a go because I thought it would be a shambles - maybe it still is but I feel that I've learned enough to give it a go!"

One of the Workshop leaders was Ola Animashawun, an Associate Director at the Royal Court Theatre and head of their hugely successful young writer's programme.

We spoke to him about the process and why writing for the stage is so different from other forms.

Why is nurturing new writing so important to you?

Ola: Essentially because theatre is important to me as an art form and I think the only way it can survive and be sustainable is if you're always encouraging the next generation of writers, so that it becomes alive and contemporary and a constantly relevant thing, rather than a museum piece.

How is writing for the stage different from other forms of writing?

Ola: The most obvious way is that it is the hardest art form to write for I think! I think it's easy to fall into the trap of forgetting that it is meant to be performed in front of a live audience and therefore it has to be constantly moving and constantly engaging to keep an audience hooked. It's very, very difficult when at the end of the day all they've got is the text that you've created.

It's just remembering that it is for a live audience and it is for spontaneous and in the moment event. It's the same words every evening, but by no means is it always the same show, largely because the audience is always changing. That's why I love it because it's the most immediate and most exciting art form.

In terms of differences, it's easier to compare it most with film and yet it is completely different because obviously film has a lot more shorthand and tricks that the stage doesn't have. No matter how hard you try, you can have the most polished performance in the world but you can't flip from Rio to Paris without a big scene change and you still think well I'm not really there!

And also you don't have that live reaction in film, so when writing a play you almost have to consider the audience as an extra character?

Ola: Exactly, certainly at least in the way they react. I would hope that there isn't anyone writing and not thinking about the audience or not considering the audience. I'm not saying you've got to write to necessarily please the audience or shock the audience but you do have to write bearing in mind that there IS an audience. For example, you can't have a 15 minute scene change because you want to go to Moscow for a two minute scene and then go back to Clapham for a 30 minute scene because the audience are going to get bored! But the thing that really fascinates me is how does that dynamic work because what every writer wants is a standing ovation and that's a very organic thing to achieve, it can be a very laboured and quite intensive process of writing.ÌýÌýÌýÌý

It sounds really difficult! So how do you approach these workshops because you've got people who have no experience of writing for the stage?

Ola: I tell them it's really difficult! No, seriously, my main approach is to have fun! Writing for the stage is a craft and therefore you need to acquire the tools of the trade first, and then you need to practice your craft and no craftsperson is a master to begin with. They all start as apprentices andÌý they all start making lots of mistakes and getting it wrong, but eventually if you practice the art long enough you can get to that supreme status that you're trying to get to. But there are also many stages along the way and the main thing is having fun because then you're relaxed and you're open and therefore you can be open to the ideas.

Then after that we do the more practical and the more obvious things. We break it down into its component pieces, looking at character and location and looking at what is dramatic action. Then we look at the dynamics of characters in a space on the stage and how that really works and then try to put that into practice as it were, so there's a lot of writing.ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý

But I try to mix it up, there's discussion, there's analysis and there's comparison but first and foremost there's lots of writing.

I've written loads of opening scenes and then think 'this isn't Alan Bennett, so what's the point, who's going to look at this?' So do you work at building confidence as well?

Ola: Totally - that's what I mean about it being fun. For me that's one of the most fundamental aspects because you've got to have the confidence. It's incredibly scary to say 'oh I've written this, do you want to have a look at it?', let alone 'do you want to perform it?!' The thought of that is scary which is one of the reasons I try to get people to do it quite quickly so they can get over that fear. Because actually nothing bad is going to happen! Even if someone says they don't like that - you'll be fine! And you need to discover that.

It's not about it's not as good as this or that, you are different and I need to hear what your voice is. If you start from the position that it's rubbish then it probably will remain rubbish. If you start from the position that it's good fun and I'm just having a go and there's a technique that I can apply, then you'll start to enjoy it. So nothing bad is going to happen and lots of good could potentially happen.

When you do it and your play is produced, then there's no better feeling. And if it wasn't for the writer none of it would be there and there would be no theatre.ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý

There aren't any secrets, it's as simple as it sounds - have the thought and write it down. Obviously we can bend it and shape it afterwards. There are lots of people who think they want to be writers but don't know how, but there isn't really a trick - just write! If you don't know what to write about, then we can find it. There are always things you get passionate about and things you want to say, it's just about finding the form and the perspective and the way in on how to say it. Part of it is having the courage and the confidence.